A World Without Clark Kent
by Orokid
Summary: Basically, Clark decides that he's not needed on Earth, so he intends to live in one without himself...
1. Death

**Orokid**_: Hey! I just got done with this at 10:45 PM Florida time, since that is where I've spent my summer vacation for all this time. Lol. I got a little bored, and this seemed like a good fanfiction idea after reading the book (haven't really seen the movie yet… heh heh…) since I kinda read Lois's article (what they had the script or whatever, cause I don't really know how the Hell books are written from scripts) of "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman". That's exactly why I decided to write this- A World Without Clark Kent. Basically, this was my idea:_

_Clark knows that Lois doesn't really want him and knows that she's given up most of her hope on Superman as well. He thinks that he can get back the adoration of the world, of Lois, although he knows that he doesn't deserve it really, by being ONE personality rather than two. He knows that it might not work, but he's willing to make the sacrifice._

_It didn't really work out that way, but you'll see why- and you might get the idea about what I may have planned- although please tell me, cause I don't really know what that is either. Lol._

**Disclaimer**_: I do not own Superman or any of the characters mentioned in this fanfiction, although that WOULD be awesome. In reality, it belongs to two Jewish guys, and I really don't know what I am, so that is definitely not me. Lol. ANYWAY, please read and review my story, because I WILL love you forever and ever, and then maybe give you guys a cookie too!_

**A World Without Clark Kent**

_Chapter One_

_Death_

To tell the truth, he hadn't known why he had come back to the Earth after all those years in space. At first, it had been the hope that the world would still need him after his absence, but Lois's article had shot down that hope. Next, he thought that his real self was needed to exist in the world, but all he had done was get his job back and start writing obituaries for people who hadn't even kicked the bucket yet- not exactly the job he had left at all. Lastly, he had thought that he had come back for the people who had loved him, but his mother was leaving for Montana soon with her boyfriend and Lois had birthed a son that she should be proud of with a man who was her fiancé.

So why was he back in Metropolis, donning the suit of the Man of Steel and writing death notes for those still alive? He didn't know, but he just figured that it was something he hadn't yet figured out, and he now had to so he knew just why he was still living amongst the humans of Earth.

It was true that he had nearly killed himself when he had shot New Krypton out into orbit, and even truer yet that he had stopped Lex Luthor from destroying the human race as they knew it. He had negated the hugest mass murder in the turn of the century, but there had to be something more than the red cape and blue latex, and the gold and red "S" that was found upon his chest.

At least, there should've been more. There should've been much more.

Ever since he had gotten back, the existence of Clark Kent, the bumbling fool who could write faster than just about everyone in the world, was waning in his subconscious. Of course, he wanted to live a normal life, but to have one meant that he had to be just like everyone else- normal, without powers and the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. That, in itself, seemed to be an impossible feat for a man like him, born with the blood of a race that had been destroyed long, long ago, and finding even a particle of normalcy was more than improbable.

Flying high in the moonlit night, it seemed as though the world was sleeping under the watchful eye of God himself. It was true that he despised being called an overlord and such, as well as a "savior" (as Lois had so keenly put it in that award winning article of hers), but a single man flying high above the twinkling city he tried so hard to protect was a sight in itself, saying such things that he didn't quite like. But it was there that he made his decision, whether anyone had a complaint about it or not.

The unneeded man, as well as the unwanted hero, was to combine on this very night to create one being- someone he hoped more than anything would be needed somewhere in this world. It was the only way he could think up to make such a powerful emotion like loneliness go away, although he did know that it may or may not work to his hopes and dreams.

Tonight would be the last night he'd ever feel a sense of normalcy, and so he believed that a bottle of whiskey was needed- although he wasn't sure if it was a congratulatory one or not.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lois couldn't get to sleep that night, and she couldn't understand why, as the clock on the kitchen wall chimed four times to tell her what time of the morning that it was ((AN: 4 AM)). She had been hovering over her cup of coffee, which was now as warm as the night outside of her quaint little home, for so many hours now that she had forgotten at what time she had awoken.

All she remembered now, in the silence of the coldest night of the year, was the faint feeling of dread creeping up on her. Her first course of action, as a mother, was to check upon her four year-old son and how he was fairing up to the winter night. She had assumed, after she had found him fine and dandy in a blanket cocoon, that it had merely been because of her worries, and how wound up she had been for the entire last week- the ceremony for her award, the article deadline, Lex's millionth attempt to take control of the world and kill billions of human lives for the single purpose of making other's fear his wrath, etc. Made sense, right? At least, it did until she tried to settle back into the comforts of both her fiancé's arms and their bed. Obviously, since she could not fall into her well-needed dreams, there had to be some other issue that she had to deal with that she hadn't quite gotten to yet.

Her mind had been racing faster than it ever had in her entire life, and she could only think that it was because this had been the deepest feeling of dread that had come upon her in her thirty some years. She could figure that something big was going to happen, but it wasn't as though she knew whether this 'thing' would affect her or not. Deep inside, where that fear had manifested itself, she had a feeling that it would, although she couldn't prove it.

By the time the clock had chimed five times, claiming that it was near sunrise about then, her mind had gone to the one who had done so much for her. Sure, she had been at her angriest- a scary sight, she had been told- when she had written that article about why the would did NOT need a Superman to save them from every trouble, but that didn't mean that she was going to hold a grudge against him any longer than she had. Although she had been irritated and mad, there had been no way she could have exploded at him while he watched her with those sparkling baby blue eyes and smiled with the straight and perfect white teeth. As much as she had wanted to when he had saved her, as well as many other reporters (since that DOES tend to slip her mind from time to time), yet again from her inevitable death that it would've been on that spacecraft only a week ago, those captivating eyes and smile stopped the thought before it had even formed.

It was almost too easy for him to sneak past her defenses, and she hated it so much how he could do such a talent without her permission- but it was harder not to love him more for that same ability. And, because of that, she had to ask a question to herself whenever he tended to be around-

Why did he have to be such a contradiction to everything she had thought she had known, back when things made sense?

The answer to that question was as simple as snapping your fingers or riding a bike that had gotten training wheels put upon the back wheel, or even pointing at something strange. And this was it:

She loved him. She hated herself for it more than anyone could know, but she couldn't ever love anyone- not even Richard, who had taken his spot- as much as she adored him.

Sighing, she took a sip of her coffee finally, only to spat it out due to it's bitter cold taste. Why, oh why, did that taste seem familiar to her, when all she wanted to do was forget it?

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It was quite early in the morning when Lois had entered the Daily Planet, to her lonely desk that reminded her of what she had left at home, only to find that feeling of dread that had kept her awake all night bothering her once again.

It was true that it was a first that she had ever walked in without bothering Jimmy to photo this or that, or to get her a steaming cup of dark coffee, let alone the fact that she rarely ever walked through those doors earlier than ten or eleven. But, having no sleep for however long that had been, it had left her feeling restless. And that feeling returning only made that restlessness within her a bit more bothered than before. What was going to happen today, in this place she called home more often than the one in the suburbs?

Her eyes moved hastily about, and she noticed nothing out of the ordinary- other than the fact that Smallville, as she had so lovingly called him for much of their first year together in their certain workplace, was missing from his desk. He was known for his perfect attendance, and she was sure that it had been the same during his school-going years, and he wasn't known to miss a day of work. Sure, he disappeared from time to time, but always came back and acted as though nothing had ever happened, but there was something about this certain day or so that disturbed her.

As the man with the camera tried to walk past her without saying a word, obviously nervous about something or another, her hand had shot up to catch his arm, forcing him to stay around. His groan, like everything else, made her worry increase, and she knew she should because he only did that when there was a reason to kill him. "Where's Clark, Jimmy? He should be here, right?"

He shuffled nervously from side to side, biting down on his bottom lip, doing his best not to catch her eye- which didn't work, considering that was the moment she had taken a hold of his face and made him look at her.

"Where's Kent, Jimmy? You know everything- from calls to Perry to the addresses of where everyone lives- so you shouldn't have a problem answering me with this one."

He closed his eyes, a tear escaping his stronghold as he did so, only to look up at her with his bottom lip close to trembling.

_Oh God, there's something wrong with Clark, isn't there?_ she thought to herself, doing her best to fight off the over-worrying. _No, no. Something must be bothering Jimmy, because nothing can happen to Clark, right? He's just home sick, right? Right? He… He just has to be, because… well, Clark is… well… I don't know what he is, but he's a friend!_

"C.K. is… is d-dead, Lois", he told her softly, another tear falling down his cheek, him unable to hold it back. "He… Something was happening with his mother, and he was going to see her in Montana, and… and… the plane he was riding in… well…" He started to sob, collapsing against her, and she could feel his heart breaking, as well as her own for some reason, at the news.

Well, there was a reason- he had been their friend and now… now he was…

"Superman was settling a fire in the everglades, and… and…" The man broke into pieces again, hugging her legs since they could not make her waist in his current position. "He didn't make it in time to- to…"

"Jimmy, stop. It's okay." She was trying to tell herself that as well, but, as much as she was sure it was working for him, it was working the same with her. She couldn't stop herself from shedding a few tears herself, but she was trying her hardest to hold them back from everyone's sight- she'd be damned to have her reputation of 'the woman that never cries for anything' ruined, even during such a tragic event as this. "You… you don't have to continue. I… I know it's hard, so… stop. Please."

Her chest seemed to tighten as she once again turned to look at his desk, soon to be emptied and trashed like they usually were in such situations like this, although she hadn't quite expected to find one ever again since the Man of Steel's appearance in Metropolis, but that didn't help her now- what happened had happened, and there was no way to reverse time to make it stop.

She wished so much that she could've though.

Holding one another, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen held onto one another and found each other sobbing, but they didn't judge, or care for that matter. Today, they would celebrate his life, for as long as he had lived it, and that was a promise.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Meanwhile, outside of the Daily Planet home office…

Superman's cool fingers touched the glass pane he had once found escape with over the years, and his forehead touched the building. It was true that he was hovering about twenty stories above the ground, but that didn't matter much right at that moment. All that mattered to him now was how everyone was taking the news, which he had settled into the information bank, all thanks to the hacking skills his friend had lent him at the last moment.

Sighing, he whispered three words before hovering off to another section of town-

"I'm sorry, Lois."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Orokid**_: what do you think? Does pure boredom do well with my A.D.D. mind? Lol. Jk._

_Anyway, I would like to know what you guys think about it, cause that's exactly why I'm posting it. So, in other words, I'd like everyone who reads this (although I know you won't, cause barely anyone does anymore ((cries)) no matter how much I want them to…) to review my lovely, non-betaed fanfiction. That would be great. Thanks!_

_In case you don't know how, click purple-blue button below after- going to Write a Review (or whatever the Hell that's called, cause I don't remember all too well…), write what you think, and THEN click it. Thanks again! ((Grins))_


	2. Revelations

**Orokid**_: I was thinking about what to write when a reviewer ((thank you, tib!)) offered some ideas- which I took with much gratitude. I am not sure whether I'm happy about how it's going so far or not, cause I am known to screw everything up when I'm writing the second chapter- whether it's what I want to write or what I'm forcing myself to write. You know? Anyway…_

_Heh heh… don't know what else to say, so I guess I should write the disclaimer, huh?_

**Disclaimer**_: I don't own Smallville or Superman ((although being on the writing staff would be awesome! Lol)) or any of the characters mentioned. If there are any characters mentioned that you don't recognize from the stories of Smallville OR Superman, I most likely own them, although owning them is hard cause you have to pay SO MUCH to gain the rights of a character. Lol._

_Please remember to review!_

**A World Without Clark Kent**

_Chapter Two_

_Revelations_

Lois hadn't gotten to work in days.

It was true that she could blame it on the lack of sleep or the feeling that she lost someone probably more important to her than she'd ever know, but she knew that she couldn't. Not now, and possibly not ever again. She just sat in the kitchen, sitting at the wooden chair at the table, staring at the wall as though something would burst from it. But it was more like she was waiting for something- someone- to reappear into her life like no other.

She was waiting for Clark to come back. As impossible as it seemed to her, she was still there, awaiting him, although it was the last thing that could ever happen. The first reason why- he didn't know where he lived, right?

The woman sighed, running her whitened hands through the dark hair that seemed to be such a contrast, after so long without a good night's rest. She knew that she shouldn't have waited this long, shouldn't have hoped beyond every possible thing in this world, for him to come back. It made more than enough sense that he should be taken from her- all she had done was ignore him, was leave him to watch Superman do all sorts of tricks and treats that she herself has enjoyed since that day he had saved her.

Of course, who wouldn't be in love with someone that could joke so lightly while holding a helicopter above his head with only one hand, hovering about the twentieth floor?

But… She couldn't help but regret her choices now, when all seemed to be going downhill. Someone that she had overlooked for so many years now, someone she had skipped while following the footsteps of Superman and Richard like a puppy in need of a home, was now gone from this world, and- it figured- she wanted him back, if only to call him Smallville all over again. She'd never had the chance to do that now…

"Mommy?"

His little voice had surprised her, although she knew that she shouldn't have been, considering that it wasn't that late in the evening yet. His bedtime wasn't for another hour or so, so she couldn't blame him for wanting attention after her days of distance. She smiled warmly at him, offering the safe haven of her arms- which he jumped in immediately- as he watched her with those eyes that made her shiver even now.

"Daddy went on business, so it's just you and me", the boy stated, a grin upon his face- and she knew that his features would grow very handsome by the time he was in high school. _You're thinking too far ahead, Lane_, she told herself, knowing that it was a habit after having her precious son. "Mommy, may I ask you something?"

"What is it, honey?" The immediate response hadn't been held back, although she did regret not doing it after it had been said. It was a mothering thing to ask what 'it' was that he wanted to speak about, and she knew that it had to be something very important- he was shy by nature, whether he was a 'monster', as she and Richard called him lovingly, or not. His actions, such as getting into things and making a ruckus, was something from her side of the family, so she knew that she had to take it in stride. "Is that mon-mon in your closet again, Jason?"

He shook his head firmly, fear igniting in his blue eyes almost immediately at the mere mention of the 'mon-mon'- which is, in the thoughts of little Jason Lane, a real live monster, ready to devour him. But, soon, the fear was replaced by the emotion of sadness, and she knew that it was empathy that he could feel. "What are you so sad about, mommy?"

She bit her lower lip, trying to determine what to say to her four year old son when everything around her seemed not to go her way. "Well…" How do you explain death to a child that had only lived in sunshine and daisy until recently, when his innocence had been near snatched away by a man she detested more than Superman himself, back when he had disappeared for five years. "One of mommy's friends, you see…" She didn't know how to place the words, to explain that not everything could be cured by Superman's might. "You remember how grandpa went on a trip, honey?" He nodded, trying to understand just how Grandpa and his mother's friend had anything to do with one another. "Well, mommy's friend- Mister Kent, you remember- went on a… a trip, and mommy's a little sad because he can't come back. Mommy can't see him ever again, and she's sad about it."

He looked at her, cocking his head and biting his bottom lip, a little nervous still to ask the question that bothered him so much recently. "Mommy, can you tell me how you and daddy met?"

She smiled, and thought that his innocent and shy ways were possibly more adorable than anything else she had witnessed. She loved her little boy when he was like this- he reminded her of someone that she couldn't really place in her memories at the moment, someone she knew that she once loved as well as much as she currently adored her son. "Well, you see, Richard- your daddy-"

He shook his head, looking up at her with those blue eyes that could make anyone squirm beneath them- so innocent and loyal and loving and… She sighed, knowing that she shouldn't think of HIM at a time like this.

"No… not him- daddy." He looked up to her, hopeful for a good answer, for one that would make sense for the first time to him.

"What do you mean, honey?" Lois was confused, of course, not quite getting what he meant when he said that Richard wasn't his father. Of course he was, or else… well, who else could she remember giving herself to in such a time of need- no one. So… that meant that Richard HAD to be Jason's father.

Once more, chewing on his bottom lip, his eyes rose to meet hers, pulling all his courage together to say the one word that he wasn't sure if he was meant to utter. "Superman."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Superman sat on the edge of a windmill, staring down the plains of the town he had left behind long, long ago. Of course, he had come back momentarily, when he had come back from his mission to Krypton, but it wasn't as though he had stayed really. His mother had basically kicked him from the perch her had been standing at, back when he had come home, and told him to go back to the one whom he loved.

Well, she hadn't said it in that way, or physically done such a thing, but it was somewhere near understandable when she had stood there and said "I'm moving to Montana", so there wasn't any reason for him to fix up the farm.

But he had a reason to be where he was, and it was all because of the woman who had kicked him back into the fiery clutches of Metropolis, telling him that they needed him and his powers after so long, after his absence. Once again, it hadn't been said- he had merely read between the lines.

But now... now...

He was alone, all over again, and he couldn't undo his problems. At first, he had thought that the world hadn't needed him, that his role was more as the superhero, and- although it was true- it wasn't as if he could walk uip to someone and start a conversation. People got all flustered when he was around, or they just stood in shock and stared right at him like he was a ghost.

He was lonely now, and he couldn't get his life back ever again- he had killed himself off, like some horrible fairytale that shouldn't have been written.

This was his only change for a conversation now, and he had to explain himself more often than not.

Before he knew it, he was standing before the front door of that quaint little home he had grown up in.

His hand reached forward, and he cringed, expecting to hear his mother's voice ring through and tell him that she had seen him walking up. The door only jingled, and he stepped through the front opening- strangely, although so not to misunderstood, still donning the red and blue suit that she had tailored for him, back when he had decided to become his second identity. The identity that has become more than permanent now- it was who he had become. Looking up, he finally noticed the bells that had been placed there, up above the doorframe, and he knew that it was a safety precaution. She could not hear as well as he could, so it seemed like a better idea to have her hear something when people merely walked through her doors.

"Who is it?" an elderly voice called, weary and sad, although there was still a tinge of hope that she could not lose. It was the same tone she had taken to using when his father, when Jonathan Kent, had passed on to the afterlife. Obviously, she had heard the news and dared not to further listen.

"Mom?" It was a simple greeting that they had gone through whenever he took the chance to return home, but, now, it was as though the world had stopped all together for Martha Kent.

He had heard the bowl of… whatever she was cooking… crash on the ground, and he heard the gasp release from her throat. It was a good sign, although he wouldn't blame her if she appeared with Kryptonite in her hands, ready to murder him for giving her such a scare.

He gave a nervous smile as she peaked around the doorframe of the kitchen, looking straight at the man who was standing tall in her living room. That could not be her son, for her son usually wore suits or his old flannel shirts whenever he dropped by- but, still, she laughed aloud and ran forward, wrapping her arms as tight as her old arms would allow her.

"Nice to see you too, mom."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Orokid**_: I would love it if you guys would review this, because I like it when I get reviews- my crap days turn good all because of a few reviews. Lol._


	3. Because Of You

**Orokid**_: Hi. I just reread Superman Returns (the book), and I just wanted to say that I might've missed a few things… Lol. At least now I can make some things make a lot more sense in this fanfiction… Heh heh… Yeah, I started writing this by just reading the book- sue me._

**Disclaimer**_: I do not own Superman or any of the characters mentioned in this fanfiction, although that WOULD be awesome. In reality, it belongs to two Jewish guys, and I really don't know what I am, so that is definitely not me. Lol._

_Please read and review my story, because I WILL love you forever and ever, and then maybe give you guys a cookie too!_

**A World Without Clark Kent**

_Chapter Three_

_Because Of You_

Superman watched as his mother patiently as she stirred him a cup of coffee, which was something that he most obviously needed out of everything at that moment. His tongue, although 'super' just like the rest of him, had not tasted the sweetness that was human coffee in so long, he found himself longing for the substance, it seemed. His arms were leaning on the table, showing that he indeed was awaiting the substance that was more like liquid gold to him than anything at the moment, and his mother only chuckled as she turned to look at him.

It had taken him only a moment to gulp it down, not even bothering with the hot liquid so that it might cool. No- he had needed it too much about then, and that was it.

The elderly woman sat down across from him, laughing softly to herself as her young son gave a satisfied sigh as he set the mug down. He was grateful- more than she'd ever know- for this simple act, and he merely grinned at the woman who had raised him.

Tears were gathering in her eyes at the sight of her dear son now, acting like he had back when everything wasn't as complicated as it was now. He was her boy, Clark Kent, all over again, and she was more than happy that he was alive and well, unlike what that news report had said about her baby boy and that airplane that had gone down. Her shaking hand moved over to his, holding onto it lovingly, like a mother would her son's after being away from him for so long.

"You know… you're father, if he wasn't in heaven, wouldn't have allowed you to do such a thing to us all." She smiled at her son as he looked up at her with that crooked nervous smile upon his firm, thin lips. This was the real Clark Kent- not afraid to show who he was, and not afraid to show that he wasn't a normal man. "But… I'm glad that you're back sweetie."

He smiled at her, it a bit larger now, and stood up to gather his elderly mother into his strong arms. He always did that when she felt down, or whenever he felt that she needed to be held in his arms like his father would do to her. He was always so kind and…

His mother looked up at him all of a sudden, remembering the young woman whom Clark had once told her that he loved more than life itself, and even the boy she had with her at the hospital site. She could remember the woman walking by her, not realizing that she was the adoptive mother of Superman himself, and she could remember how she had thought that the little boy in the woman's arms looked a little like the boy who she had raised.

But now was the time to ask.

"Clark…" the old woman began, her blue eyes sparkling with the eyes a grandmother would have when looking upon her grandchild. She could see the boy now in the eyes of her son now, watching her with that innocence and little understanding like her baby boy had done when he had been adopted by them. "That woman…"

"Lois?" he offered kindly, smiling down at her with a grin that could melt many a woman's heart.

"Yes… Lois…" She nodded at him, thanking him silently for his help with the name, and she smiled almost diabolically. He could see in her eyes that she had something in mind for him, and, to tell the truth, she was sort of scaring the Man of Steel in a way that no one else could. "Is that my grandbaby?"

At once, the great Superman seemed to freeze immediately.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lois Lane was speechless.

No, the word 'speechless' just didn't seem to reach just how the great reporter was feeling at that moment. 'Astounded' might be good, and so would 'shocked', but the fact that she couldn't get any word- whether 'yes' or 'no'- to exit from her lips seemed to enhance the word that had been chosen. But it all really meant the same thing, no matter how one could change the wordings.

It meant that THE Lois Lane, star reporter for the Daily Planet, was at a loss for words, unable to tell her son just what he wanted to know.

Ever since they had come back from their big adventure of rescuing Superman, there had been strange and unexplainable incidents that occurred.

Of course, she herself could remember the time during their one-time heroic moments when her sickly little boy had lifted an entire grand piano above his head and thrown it into the body of her attacker. Then, there was the fact that he'd always feel a little bit queasy while around the glowing green rocks that had come from Superman's home world, and then better than ever once they were a certain distance away from it. Also, there was a time after they had returned home, when her son had been trying to be playful by smacking his hands against the tabletop.

Come to think of it, they still had to purchase a new table for their kitchen because of that little event, and Richard STILL believes that the wood had been weak- not that Jason had been too strong to control it.

One could say that, while they were at the hospital, she might've gone a step too far in telling the father of her child was indeed the boy's father. But… who else could've been her son's true parent when her little boy could push and throw things thirty times his own weight?

Then again, it wasn't like her to point a finger, just because of her son's unique talent. It wasn't as though she could remember the night that had brought her son into existence, nor how she and the Man of Steel could ever get so close to have that sort of relationship. It was true that people already believed that she and Superman had been closer than she and any other man, considering how Jimmy had snorted a huge laugh when she had mispronounced how she had 'done' the said man, but…

She looked at her son, biting down on her bottom lip as she watched him. Lois knew that he was expecting an answer from her, but it wasn't as though she could plainly tell the boy what she did not know for sure.

Lowering her eyes, not wanting to look into the deep oceans that only reminded her of HIM, she shrugged helplessly. "I… don't even know if he's your father really…" She was being truthful to him, telling him all that she knew for sure, all the facts that had been entrusted to her, and he was calmly taking in whatever information she gave. "I… I can't remember much at all and… well…"

She felt little Jason's hands move onto hers, and she looked up into those devilish eyes that she could crumble at immediately. "It's okay, mommy." He gave her that irresistible smile that she could remember falling so deeply in love with, back when everything in her life had made sense- well, sense in that sort of time… It was then that she had barely caught what he had told her, and she felt a sense of foreboding envelop her. "Ask Uncle Clark when he gets back from his trip."

Her tearful eyes immediately intensified, wondering how Clark might've known whether or not the Man of Steel was Jason's father or not. Did that mean that he couldn't know many other things- like the real identity of Superman?

As her little boy let go of her hands, her palms immediately went to cover her eyes, trying to figure things out in the darkness of her mind. How does her son know anything about how Clark Kent, the bumbling pencil pusher that used to sit across from her at work, might know about Superman? Did he see something she didn't?

With a sigh, Lois shook her head, debating in her mind how to go about her next duty as a reporter- to go for the story, or to let him find her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Orokid**_: Heh heh… yeah… I was a little frazzled to continue this, considering the fact that I've reread what I've missed in the movie, and was told the rest by my good friends who didn't take me… ((grumble grumble))_

_Anyway! Lol._

_Please review my fanfiction, because this is one of the few chapter stories I like at the moment. Lol. And I feel like I did a good job on this one._


	4. Questions

**Orokid**_: Heh heh… Yeah… I had a bit of fun with this one, considering how I mixed and matched Smallville in here somewhere, and added yet another main character into the mix of it all… ((Grins)) Yeah, I had FUN! Lol. Anyway, I think you guys (and gals) will like it, but please do review and tell me if anything is off- or if it's absolutely fantastic. Lol._

_PS- Good mood. Can you tell? Hehe. ((Grins))_

**Disclaimer**_: I do not own Superman or any of the characters mentioned in this fanfiction. In reality, it belongs to two Jewish guys, and I really don't know what I am, so that is definitely not me. Lol. Anyway, if there is any character that is or could be mentioned in this fanfiction, they will most likely be mine, so don't worry about that one. I don't want to be sued for using my own characters, 'kay?_

**A World Without Clark Kent**

_Chapter Four_

Lois sat at her desk in the Daily Planet for the first time in what seemed like months, thinking hard about why Jason had said to ask Clark about Superman, and about how she might get her memories back from that day that seemed to escape her every time she even got close to holding it in her hands. But every time she seemed to be close to an answer about how they might be related in some way or another, she always gets to a roadblock, and there was just no way around it, no matter how much she wanted to swerve around the curve. Her investigative instincts were holding her back now, when all that had once done was help her in the past.

It just didn't make sense now, when the chips were down, but… what if she did figure him out? What if finding out his deepest darkest secret forced her out from his life entirely? The last thing she'd ever want was to do was to risk her son and his father their time to be together, just because she was interested about what had once occurred. Then again, it wasn't as though she could walk up to him after he saved someone and ask him "hey, do you mind telling me how I got pregnant with your baby? Because I don't seem to remember any of it." Yeah, that would go over well… He'd be flying out of there faster than a bird hearing a gunshot that had been aimed straight at them.

So, how would Clark have any idea of how she might find a vaccine for her issues with memory? There wasn't any way that Gingko biloba could ever help in this situation.

First of all, he hated flying, so it had indeed been quite a surprise when she had found his name on the "Missing and/or Dead" list from the plane he had been flying on. But that could've been covered immediately, due to the complete (and almost strange) devotion that he gave his dear, sweet mother. Second of all, he couldn't swim all too well- something she knew very well that Superman could do with ease.

But why, all of a sudden, did she seem to flash back to Niagara Falls? What did one of the seven great wonders of the world have to do with Clark Kent OR Superman? She chuckled to herself at the thought that maybe Clark had fallen in, and the "Man of Steel" might've had to swoop in out of nowhere and save him. She knew that it hadn't happened, but the thought made her laugh.

Sighing, she tapped her BIC pen against the notepad she had supposed to have been writing on for hours now, looking at the blank page before her. The mere thought of Clark falling to his _near_ death seemed only to remind her that Superman, no matter what, had not been there to save him that final time.

'_Back to work'_, she told herself firmly, doing her best not to lose herself in her depression all over again, like she had earlier that week. She couldn't think about Clark's death now, and that was only because she had work to do- for her son and for herself. She was in deep need to find out just why she couldn't remember, and to tell her son just what might've happened that day she had conceived him with the man she knew she truly loved.

She reached over to the photo on her desk, her fingertips sliding over the face of her little boy, the one she had given life to what seemed so long ago now. He had that goofy smile on his face, something she knew she had seen before (although she couldn't place just where she had), and he was holding onto his mother's hand with that accomplished look in his eyes. It was like he had just pulled her from danger…

It was the look his father had given her many times when ever he had pulled her into his arms and whisked her off into safety. It was the look she still dreamed about, in the deep stretches of night- even when Richard was holding her tight in his embrace, unknowing of just about anything that was likely to happen.

But, as she had tried to place the photo back onto the edge of her desk, the picture she had received by mail- from his dear mother, no less, the letter saying that Lois most likely needed the picture more than she did, having been so "close to him" and everything- of the man she knew was dead caught her eyes, and she almost had to do a double take before picking up both photos into her hands. There was that smile, on the lips of her son in one picture, being reflected upon the glossy surface of the one she was holding in her other grip.

Slumping back into her chair, she held the two pictures tightly against her, not wanting anyone else to see the similarities- not wanting to believe what she had just seen either.

Her son was definitely the son of Kal-El- Superman- but… Clark… He was just Clark, right? There was just no way that the bumbling fool who watched her with those soft blue eyes… The blue eyes… Oh, Lord, she had been such a fool!

Sighing once more, although this time more determined, Lois picked up her coat and purse and raced for the elevator, knowing that on the rooftops was the best place to attract the "Man of Steel". Besides, it was there that he could give her one Hell of an interview without the snooping eyes of anyone there to see.

And, today, she would get her interview, her answers- for everything.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Light flittered through the crystal walls, shining light into a cavern that had once been so warm and welcoming to someone like him. Now, a moment after the brief apocalypse, it seemed cold and lonely, without the life that used to thrive through every cell of his secret place. It was as though his home away from home had gotten taken away from him by the bank, and all of his electricity was turned off before the repot man was to appear to take the rest.

So, in other words, it just didn't seem like home to him anymore, no matter how he could say it. His body couldn't feel the homeliness, just like he had before. Back then, when he had first walked into his new Fortress of Solitude so long ago, he had been an eighteen year old looking for a place to belong. Now, he was in his early thirties, looking for the same thing.

Over a decade later, he was still looking, unable to find an embrace- let alone a home- to find home in.

He thought about Lex Luthor, the man who had taken almost everything away from him in about one week, and felt hatred burn through his veins at the very idea of him. It would seem strange that, once upon a time- long, long ago- they had been the best of friends, willing to give their lives for one another. It seemed almost laughable to him as he thought about how the man still couldn't be found by any means- even his own- and how he still despised every being of the man.

"When are you going to go back home, Clark?" a voice stated behind him, and he only smirked at the sound, knowing exactly just who was speaking. There was no need to think when was speaking- it had been ingrained into his mind when he had been in high school.

Slowly, the man dressed in red and blue turned around, just looking at the young woman with a glimmer in his eyes, laughter showing where there used to be sadness, only moments before then. His eyes looked at her, noticing the parka and snowboarding pants on her slim figure, and then looked into her hazel orbs with a larger grin upon his face. "Well, Chloe, I should ask you the same thing. Weren't you the one who staged her own death?"

She stepped down the crystal stairway, folding her arms in front of her in a way to show her displeasure with him. "Last time I checked, Clark Kent didn't have a Luthor trying to murder him."

"Not everyone can be as lucky as you were." The Man of Steel smiled at her with that crooked smile, simply walking towards her with laughter in his eyes and a gentle chuckle on his lips.

The woman only glared at him, obviously annoyed by now with his shenanigans by then. "Why did I ever do you that favor, Clark, by hacking into the airlines?" She lowered her head exhaustedly, only to pull the thick jacket towards her more, hoping to warm up. "Jeez, you get an air conditioner or something?" She only grinned cheekily as he looked at her with those same annoyed eyes that she had given him. "Yeah, I know- it was on the news, remember? You can still get radio signals in igloos, no matter what science it should deny." Sighing, she sat down on a crystal step, looking up at him in his red and blue spendor. "So… What're you running away from your mother for this time?"

The man she had known as her closest, most trust-worthy friend ever since she had found refuge in the small, icicle-like town nearby looked at her as though he had been caught, as she laughed as he gave a nervous smirk. He wasn't sure what else to do now, to tell the truth, and she could see that in his eyes. Especially when he had taken a careful seat next to her, never once leaving her hazel orbs.

"Well… where should I start?"

Chloe smiled at him, watching him with a reporter's eyes, knowing that this story was going to give her something to tease him about for the rest of her life. "The beginning would be nice."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lex Luthor stepped off the deck of the boat _Night's Haven_ and onto the boardwalk of a Floridian Beach, his pressed suit looking new and recently washed by detergent and the such.

Immediately, at the sight of the bay, he wanted to grimace, watching as the future commoners in his future world gallivant throughout the streets as though there was nothing to worry about. And he knew exactly why they didn't worry, and he hated knowing such a reason- especially after hearing that the son of reporter Lois Lane, as well as herself, had survived from his attempt to murder them with the remains of his 'dear' wife's, whose age he couldn't even remember at the moment, ship.

Behind him, Kitty- who wanted to be called 'Katherine' now, for some reason he just didn't care about- stepped off behind him, dressed in the rags that she had been found adrift in. She seemed steamed, as usual, and wished that she had the power to strangle the man that had an IQ that most college Masters students- all together- couldn't come close to. "Can I get something suitable to wear NOW, Lex? You promised." She shot a worried glance back to the sailors, who seemed more than willing to do things she'd rather not think of any longer. "Besides, they keep staring at me. It's… insensitive, and… well, plain scary, Lex."

The bald male rolled his eyes as he slowly- very slowly- turned to look at the woman who had walked up to him, limping on a long ago broken heel. "Well, Katherine…" he stretched her name, glaring at her almost as she held onto that dog she just _had_ to have from the Vanderworth mansion. He rose a hand behind her, and she looked at him, frightened, as if knowing what he had planned- and the hand behind her beckoned for a few sailors. "I do believe that you and that… revolting mongrel you call a dog… belong to these men now to do whatever they please- for MY safe passage, and MY get out of jail free card."

"Wha?" Two of the sailors took hold of her arms as he turned away to put on his sunglasses, pulling her back to the ship with ease, despite the fact that she was fighting with all that she had to get away. Even her beloved dog, whom had grown very attached over the months that had followed the death of Gertrude Vanderworth to Katherine, jumped from her arms, biting the hem of Lex's suit pants, doing it's best to make him stop hurting it's mistress by using other people.

Shaking his head, he looked at the woman's pet, onto to pull his leg back and swing the canine into sea with just his leg. Turning back around, he waved cutely to the woman, only to have his face turn serious soon after. "Let me know where they throw you off board in a few months." He turned again, a smirk on his face as he whispered his next words. "IF it's land, that is…"

He laughed, and then moved on, ignoring the screams of the woman behind him…

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**Orokid**_: Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted a chapter to this story, and I know you all have been waiting patiently for it- but I've been very busy! ((Cries)) Too much to do… ((Sighs)) Anyway, I hope you guys liked this- I don't know if I portrayed Lex very well- it's my first time at trying to get into the head of the bad guy, you know? Yeah…_

_But don't forget to review and tell me how much you guys liked it!_


	5. Author's Note

This is just an author's note for any of you who might be pissed at me right now:

So, it's like this, I've been trying to write the next chapter to this well liked story "A World Without Clark Kent" but I've been having technical difficulties. These are:

1. A writer's block the size of Earth, that has only been recently downsized to Maine.

2. A faulty three and a half floppy drive in my crappy, old laptop that was made in the nineties.

3. Me being accident prone.

Also, note that this AN will be kept in place, just so everyone can understand just why I've been a little late on my writings. I apologize profusely and hope that you'll continue reading my stories.

Meanwhile, for those who haven't taken a look into my collection, click on my username and locate all the stories I have written and read them. I'd really appriciate your input on them.

Thanks, and sorry for the wait. Just a little bit longer! Promise.


	6. The Plan

**Orokid**_: So… yeah. I know that this has taken a long while, but it's been taking me forever to write this out on my laptop computer (because I write it way better on that) and then on paper (because my three and a half floppy drive is dead until future notice) and then rewrite it on my home computer. Stupid way to do it, I know, but I figured that, since I already had half of this already typed down when I had broken my drive, I might as well continue this. Just explaining this so that everyone will know the truth behind my lateness, and just because I know some people didn't read my Author's Note like they should have._

_Anyway, I've been having a major writer's block that's been stopping every and all thought about writing a fanfic of any sort, considering the fact that I even brought my writing supplies to Washington DC and New York when I went there, due to the fact that my sister is in the Riverside Community College (RCC) Marching Band, and that was what the band director wanted to do. I wrote nothing, did nothing but beat my Gameboy game (Pokémon- woo hoo!) the entire trip, as well as buy things and listen around to the crazy people one can only find in New York city (sorry to those reading from there). But… yeah. That's what I've been doing lately, and that's yet another reason to my inability to write yet another chapter. But please know that I DID look at a blank page for about an hour each of those seven days on that single trip! I wasn't being a total slacker, you know?_

**Disclaimer**_: I do not own anything that has to do with Superman or the idea of it, no matter how much I would like to. My obsession with him, the Lois and Clark series, and the Smallville series is just a mere obsession, and I'll eventually get over it and go on to some other topic. That would explain why many of my chapter stories aren't done, in case anyone wondered. Besides the fact that I own nothing at all besides myself, and even that's waning in my subconscious, I'm broke-ass anyway, so you'd get nothing out of me if I was sued._

_And so… on with the show!!_

**A World Without Clark Kent**

Chapter Five

_The Plan_

Lois held her jacket tighter around her, knowing that she should have gone inside hours ago, knowing that she'd likely awake the next morning with a cold of some sort, but her need to know kept her in place, forcing her to look forward to the problems that were to come. She needed to know the truth from within the many lies she now knew had been told to her. She needed to unconfuse the memories racing throughout her mind, tumbling through her head like a freight train that had gone off its tracks.

What embraces had she forgotten in the years that she had gone without his presence in her life, in the world? Were there years or just sweet moments of love lost in the past she couldn't quite remember? How were his kisses in the middle of the night, when he should be off saving the world? How did his touch feel when it was skin against skin, when two passions collided to create a supernova of emotions?

And- finally- the question she wanted to ask most of all: Why in the name of Hell couldn't she remember any of it?

She could have gotten a headache as she tried to reason with herself over what could have been the cause for her forgetfulness, but Lois Lane didn't want to deal with that fact until she spoke to the man who had left her waiting, wanting, loving. Too much time would be wasted pondering about the truth when she could very much question, or "interview", who might be her savior and villain, all in one.

But… how could she NOT ponder and worry about everything that confused her so much right then? She had birthed a child who was to take after his true father- a man he had just met a month ago. Her little boy was just slowly realizing his own strength after finding that he- a small asthmatic child- could toss a piano around like it was nothing at all. There were things that her son would ask when he became older, things that she couldn't answer without the man who had given him twenty-three of his forty-six chromosomes.

Personally, she didn't even want to think about what Richard would do if he knew the truth behind little Jason's parentage. All she knew was that she was more afraid for her son than herself, considering how her long time fiancé had been the only man there for him to call "daddy".

She sighed, knowing that she shouldn't think of the man right now who had been with her through thick and thin during the last five years, no matter what tried to separate them. It would break the man's heart more than it would Jason's if he were to find out the truth. But there was a more pressing matter to her at the moment, and she knew what it was all too well.

'_Go back to the issue of 'how'_', she told herself, pulling her coat even tighter around her thin athletic body, hoping to warm her heart after being so cold for so many years.

Once more, her mind went back to her former thoughts, trying to sort them out from the jumbled mess called her memories. Like always, questions overtook her, leaving the ones last asked unanswered until another time.

How was it that her son was the son of Superman when she couldn't quite remember how she had consented to acts beyond her more imaginative, wild dreams? How is it that she couldn't remember a night that should have been a night she'd never forget? How could he just leave her behind, pregnant with his child, as he went to look for himself in the stars? How could he-

Oh Hell, there's that headache she was trying to avoid…

Lois weaved a hand within her hairline, half trying to calm the savage pulsing and half testing herself for a fever. Last thing she wanted now was to have a headache AND the flu. Maybe she should just stop waiting for him, stop waiting for an answer to her calls, and just go inside and warm herself with a warm cup of java- or even hot chocolate. Depending upon her audience, she'd have to choose on what to drink.

Right then, she just knew that she had to stop thinking about him, stop worrying over whether or not Richard was going to leave her and Jason, and stop wondering how her world would turn out to be once the truth was unfurled. Never once had she, in her entire life, wondered what to drink when a news article was due in soon. To her, a woman in her mind, this meant that she was slowly growing insane over the problems that had been occurring in her life.

Before the dark haired beauty could turn and leave her perch atop the Daily Planet building, a small and soft hand gave a simple tug upon her sleeve, pulling her attention down to the dark haired boy whom her thoughts had seemed so centered upon mere moments ago. She almost couldn't help looking the boy up and down, and couldn't help the tears that sprouted at the tips of her already slightly red eyes.

Those light brown locks… They felt the same as Superman's, as Clark's, always so soft and clean, and she knew it despite the fact that she didn't know how she knew. Those piercing, innocent blue- almost crystal- orbs… It almost hurt to watch him now, but she knew that- as his mother- she had to, if just to deal with the truth of it all. The truth that she had been lied to in more ways than one, and the possibility that she could have known the man's identity, only to have it snatched away from her.

And then there was the truth that the knowledge had been right in front of her, and that she hadn't seen the clues that had been so obvious. Her son- his son- had seen it before she had.

Lois gently took Jason's hand, offering a small smile, and he gave her one back. A soft breeze seemed to blow through them, and the winter air chilled her more than she'd admit- but mothering instincts had come through as she went to her knees, tightening the warm jacket she had put upon him that morning. And, as she played with the defiant zipper, pulling it up the small length of his young body, he opened his mouth, saying the words she didn't want to admit to anyone right then- let alone herself.

"You waiting for… for daddy?" His voice had been soft, as if knowing that she feared someone finding out her dark secrets, knowing why she was standing in the cold, not even lighting up a cigarette that she shouldn't even have. He knew so much while he wasn't even that old while she knew so little, and he was cautious and loving enough to allow her to find the answers she wanted, needed, all because he understood that she hated being told straight to her face. She was like that, no matter what she would say, and he was accepting of her for it.

Her little boy was so much like his father, whether he knew it or not, and she felt glad to have him as her own.

Her smile grew only a little before tears had come to her eyes, and she could only wrap her arms about her son so to hide them away. As stubborn as she was, she couldn't let him see how happy she felt to have him in her life, and how sad she was to know that his life would only get worse, stranger than ever before, and it was known to her just how alienated he could feel when he was older.

Jason merely wrapped his small arms around her kneeled form the best that he could, and she was thankful for his embrace.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Chloe couldn't help watching her closest friend in shock and betrayal, although the latter feeling was more for the sake of another than herself. From everything she had heard out of his mouth, her trusting each and every word due to the fact that he was never one to lie (unless it might end up hurting someone), she could realize the emotions running through the veins of her cousin, the heartache the woman must have felt when she found that her baby boy didn't belong to the man she had been living with for the past four years, but to the one who had been absent in hers for five. She could only sum up every thing she felt in one action-

"Clark, you idiot!"

Her hand smacked the back of his head, partially playful and partially shocked about his stupidity. How could a man harder than steel itself be so much of an idiot about his love life? She didn't know, but it was going to annoy her to no end until this matter was solved.

"You left her to raise your kid- oh, and thanks for the information about me having a nephew to look forward to whenever I somehow get out of hiding in this freezing hellhole- to find your ass, and then you taken away the only physical form of you that she ever knew!" She smacked the back of his head again, not caring whether or not if he could feel it. "And I helped you! You said that it had been important, so I said okay- but if I had known everything that you FORGOT to mention, I wouldn't have done it at all!"

"I'm sorry, alright?" Despite the fact that he merely felt a tickle on the back of his head whenever she put her entire being into her slaps, it was more of the fact that she was attacking him at all that seemed to hurt his heart more than his body. His best friend being as angry as this never added up well for him, and he knew that better than the back of his own hand after all of the years they had been together. "I just… I didn't know that it'd escalate to this, you know? I didn't…" His head feel slightly, knowing that he was possibly hating himself more than a Luthor could right then. "I didn't know that she was pregnant back then, or else… or else leaving would have been harder than it already was." He sighed, lowering his head farther between his knees like a dog being reprimanded might, remembering that day long ago when the headline had been sent out, when he had hoped that he might not be so alone in the universe. "It was hard enough as it was. She knew who I was, inside and out, and I loved her more than life itself, but…" To tell the truth, he was pretty much an idiot. "I couldn't let her assume the risk, and so…"

"You took matters into your own hands and did something you'd regret for your entire life?"

The male nodded, silent, not even daring to look at her while he was in such a state. If he did, he had a feeling that she would see through his strong and courageous exterior and see the scared little boy who had just broken the kitchen table just because he didn't want to eat his vegetables. The last thing she needed to see was how big and strong Clark Kent was acting like a child all over again.

She rolled her eyes and then huffed, getting it out of her system before she could turn around and be nice again. Letting out a brief sigh, she inhaled deeply, then exhaled her negative emotions out from her system the best she could. "Well… it's not like you shouldn't have expected it. Everything you've ever done has escalated to a breaking point so often in your life, I might sometimes believe that you're the catalyst of them all- oh wait, you are. Huh. Imagine that." She smiled at him, her joke amusing herself as she watched him crack a small smile from his solemn features as well.

Chloe leaned over and nudged him playfully, looking up to the crystal walls that seemed so dead to her now when she had seen them alive and vibrant- possibly what heaven might've looked like if he hadn't taken her to the hospital that day. Then again, she probably was more than likely hallucinating that day, so she couldn't quite say anything about it other than the fact that it had been warmer than the blizzard that had occurred right outside the doorway of his little hideout. "You know… you probably have a chance to make everything alright again, Clark."

He looked at her, surprised to have heard those words when she had once reprimanded him for being unable to make a decision about his life. Wait, that was about his love life, not life in general… "And how might I do that, oh Queen of Miracles?"

A slight demonic smile came to her lips as she watched him, and he knew right then that asking 'how' was probably not his best idea…

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lex Luthor, the original million-dollar man, sat all by his lonesome, staring up at a blank chalk board where he had once placed his many brilliant ideas, back when he and the Man of Steel had first met that year so long ago. Most of his things had been taken out of the room, placed into evidence that placed him against the nation of America, but they had, for some unknown reason to him, kept this here. Almost ten years had gone by since his plan to separate California from the States, and yet they had kept the chalkboard here out of all places. Why hadn't it gone into evidence like everything else did? Why had they left him this miniscule thing when they could have put him away forever with it?

He didn't know, but he was thankful for the lack of things the law of Metropolis had forgotten back in his lair.

Sighing, the man looked about himself, his suit fresh and pressed and his mouth fixed in the same line as it always was, and could only remember the vibrancy of it all. It had the look that a man who loved to live well lived there, the look that only he could have provided . If he had left the decorations to either Otis or Kitty, well… He wasn't too sure if he could've enjoyed their presence as much as he had with his own well thought out décor.

But what was he to do now, in a secret place that only he and the so-called 'superhero' knew of. Lex had only called the super powered goliath that due to what the public at large considered him, although they would have to see, eventually, that the true hero in their midst was actually a very wealthy, very handsome man by the name of Luthor. That name would be immortalized into the history books as the man that conquered, the man that led their world into greatness, and they would all see him for what he was- a man with a vision, a hero whom would not ever be forgotten.

But how could he do that, in all things that are unknown yet in his reach? If he got rid of the problem, he would be branded with the name villain all over again, and a hero of his stature could not be named that. His villainy of the moment would be heroism of the next, and they would have to understand what lengths he was willing to go through to get what the world wanted- what HE wanted.

But… if he rid himself of the insect, the mosquito that sucked the very blood of his work…

He smiled, reaching for the piece of chalk that had been left at the ledge of the board, beginning to write an equation that could prove to the world just how much of a hero he was. If fact, he was going to bend the one thing that mankind had not been able to accomplish-

Time.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Orokid**_: So… yeah. That was all I could think of, to tell the truth, and I thought that Lex would have a fun time at doing thing. Lol. What do you all think of it though? I'd really like to hear all of your thoughts, and to hear how great I am at- Ha! I can't even say that with a straight face. Lol._

_Anyway, please ignore my ADD and review my fanfic. I'd like to hear all of your thoughts (wasn't joking about that part) and hear what you're thinking about this- and thus your thoughts! Lol._


	7. The Plan in Thought or Action

**Orokid**_: Okay, I know that it's been longer than it should have been for the next chapter, but there have been many uncontrollable things in my life that have caused me to wander off from this. One of them was my ADD, and God knows that it's extremely hard to control it when you know it's impossible. Another were a set of Writer's Blocks that seemed to only set themselves in front of me and cause me emotional turmoil. Other than that, life happened, and I'm sure people understand that._

_Anyway…_

**Disclaimer**_: I don't own anything that has to do with Superman, Smallville, Lois & Clark, or anything else that has to do with the Superman merchandise. Those things, sadly, belong to many other people- and none of them are me. The end._

_Hope you enjoy my story!_

**A World Without Clark Kent**

Chapter Six

_The Plan in Thought- or Action_

Alexander Luthor, although more commonly known as Lex, was finding that his brilliant idea was taking more time than he was willing to lend it. Too much time had passed- maybe an hour or so- for this simple equation to be solved, and, the more time it took, the more his patience seemed to be waning. His thoughts, though filled with the humanly impossible equation to bend time and space, seemed to wander every so often to how a simpleton had ruined all of his plans during the time they had been commencing.

At first, he could find it somewhat commendable that the Boy Scout in blue had found it in his heart to protect a single piece of land- California, to say the least- just because a few thousand people were going to die. But, the more that he burrowed himself into Lex's plans, the less the genius found him commendable at all. Each plans that had been thoroughly thought out to every single detail (well… _**almost**_ every detail), carefully planned over the consistency of years, had been ruined, and each one seemed more devastating than the last.

First, there had been California, and that had gone down the sewer faster than he could say 'commendable' as soon as the idiot had gotten himself involved in affairs that were of no business to him.

Then there had been the United States, although that seemed to have been ruined almost immediately by the Kryptonians that had somehow followed Superman (or so he presumed by the fact that they were not exactly old chums) and done most of the take over bit by themselves. At the time, he hadn't even had a hand in the state of affairs, and yet they had compromised him by setting him back in that Hell hole a man such as he should never have gone to. The only good thing was that, before he had been brought in, he had sent that bogus report of a possibility of life on that far away world called 'Krypton'. Thus had sent Boy Scout on his little journey to find himself, and left him with no soul to plead against his little indiscretions against the States.

That, in itself, had taken only a moment's thought, less than the time it was taking to finish this equation that no scientist alone had tried to solve.

Finally, after his dear comrade had flown off, Lex had been freed from his hostage situation and granted the ability to walk amongst the free again. It had been then that he had made his plans, secret as they were, to cause a rich old lady to fall in love with him- and, over the vast amount of time he would spend there, sicken her to a point after she had signed off her entire mansion filled with impressive toys to him. It had been fairly easy, of course, but when it had come to making sure that he could cause two things he wanted happen, it wasn't as much so. The plan had gone into action right before the idiot had returned, and it had then caused him the need to create something that would kill him and make him all-powerful again. Somehow, although he didn't know how, he had lost his battle with the Boy Scout in blue again, like he usually did.

Couldn't Wonder Boy have continued his pilgrimage in space longer? Or even killed himself up in space? Considering the fact that that rock he once called home was now, as Earthlings had called it, a giant chunk of kryptonite and nothing more, it had been a possibility that it could occur. The bald man only smiled to himself at the thought of his enemy suffering a horrible death, and the thought continued its path of vengeance by imagining all of the Boy Scout's people dying in the same fashion. Only he knew at the time that nothing, not even his people from long ago, could live on that planet, and (personally) Lex had been half hoping that the exposure would kill him- thus ridding the world forever the annoyance that was Superman.

Yet, as usual, the imbecile had come back to Earth only to cause him heartache all over again. How was he going to take control of the world and regain his former glory if all he ever received was the thanks the size of jail bars and pig pen? And pig pen was the _**only**_ way Lex could describe that place of idiocy…

Shaking his head, he did his best to not let the bitter memories return to him as they did. There were other more important things to deal with, and his non-vented anger wasn't one of them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Man of Steel only stared at his best friend with the eyes of an unsure child, as though he were being prodded by his classmates to do something that had been so obviously against the rules. Too many emotions swelled up inside of him, and he wondered which out of the many were the most prominent.

Fear? That was a possibility, considering he was gravely afraid about what Lois might do to him if she ever found out the truth that he had been hiding for who knew how many years now. Then there was Richard, who would have to handle the fact that his son wasn't his own and, if the truth came out as his friend had suggested it would, then he felt as though the calm and strong pilot might become his next enemy. And, personally, that seemed to be the last thing he really wanted… And what of Jason? He had grown up thinking that his father was the aforesaid pilot and nephew of Perry White. The boy knew not of the gifts that were to be coming straight at him like nothing before, and he could only remember how it had felt to have had no one there beside him to comfort him whenever he felt as though he was the only one in the world thinking that he was alone. Technically, he had been, but that didn't take away the loneliness at all- in fact, it seemed to intensify at the thought.

And then, there was anger… What other way was there to describe it other than anger? She had been his closest friend since they had been in junior high, maybe even before that, and yet she was asking him to attempt suicide. Couldn't she remember how he had been oh so hesitant to tell _Lana_ how he had felt, let alone that he was the very reason to her existence and her parents' deaths? Couldn't she remember how he had felt responsible when his father died to protect him? Wasn't she aware how much pain it had been in his heart when he had become the reason for her frostbitten body all those years ago, when he had finally accepted his training with Jor-El? Only one question seemed to run through his mind as he looked at her with those surprised eyes of his:

How could she have asked him to attempt such a feat that even the incredible super hero was afraid to do?

"Well, Clark…" the woman started, leaning back against the crystal steps that she herself had sat herself upon long before- probably hours ago, by now. "If you were as suspicious as you had been back during school, Lois probably already has you figured out." He gave her his inquisitive look- that same one he had looked at her with often back before their issues with the Luthor family.

How, in the name of Hell, might she have known after all the time he had spent making sure she didn't? In all aspects, the only leads he had seemed to lead him no where.

He had been careful, always playing the fool, the spaz, the klutz, just so no one might see that he and the famed Man of Steel had very similar likenesses. For years, she had looked at him with those dark eyes of her, lazily watching him work but never looking at him longer than a moment. He had memories of her looking at Clark, the bumbling reporter, and looking at Clark, the superhero under the faux name of Superman. Never had she given him that look she gave his other self- well, his permanent self now- other than the time when she had found that the reporter and the hero were one in the same. It was almost painful to remember the times when their love had finally seemed to be requited, and not the way it's become after he had been forced to do what he had done.

Still, that didn't mean that there wasn't a chance that she hadn't found it interesting that both he and the hero had returned home at the same time. It didn't mean that his hard work to remain invisible had actually paid off. Technically, it could've just meant that she had found the truth and had been hiding it from him- maybe that had been the reason she had told him of Jason's true parentage.

No, no… she had been telling Superman- the only one possible of causing a child such as Jason such strange bursts of strength.

His hand absentmindedly reached towards the scar that sometimes still itched, still bothered him. While he knew that there was no kryptonite left within his body, it was the poison that had gotten itself into his bloodstream that bothered him so, and he could only wait for those cells to die and create new ones before he finally felt the ache go away. Then again…

Was it actually his old stab wound that bothered him, or the memory of his beloved pulling it out from his side? In all aspects, he hadn't a clue, and it seemed to be bothering him more than anyone seemed to notice. Well… there seemed to be one person who could see straight through his tough act, no matter how he might try to hide it…

"Clark… if you keep pestering your wound, it might reopen, you know." Good ol' Chloe- always there to worry about him while he was out there worrying about the rest of the world. "Well, I guess it did close, but… it could still happen." Of course, he gave that silent nod- the one he always gave whenever he was at a loss of things to say. "So… what are you going to do?"

He shrugged for a moment, only to allow his shoulders to sag and allow a sigh to escape his lips as he let the realization that she was right sink in. He was stuck, no matter what, and there was nothing he could do except fill that hole in his heart the only way he knew how to- tell Lois the truth, apologize for not being there when he should have been for Jason, and that he was nothing more than exhaustingly sorry for all the pain he had put her through. Other than that, he could hope a Hell of a lot. "I don't really know, but…"

"Coming around to my idea?" While he knew she didn't mean it, there was a smile that she couldn't mask in her voice, and he only looked at her sideways with a crooked smile of his own.

"Yeah… I guess I am."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lois didn't know why she still stood up there on the roof- it had been hours, and sunset seemed imminent. Perry would wonder what she was doing on the roof for so long, and he would prod her son by asking him if she was doing that unhealthy habit of hers- and, of course, he would answer because it seemed to nearly kill the boy (metaphorically, mind you) to tell a lie. Jason seemed to be the only soul among them that they could trust to tell everything, even if giving hints so he wouldn't be in trouble. That seemed to have been the reason as to why she had been caught so often already…

But that didn't matter right then, and she knew that it probably never should have in the first place. She knew better than to put her constantly ill son in such a position. Who was she to allow him to stay out at sub-zero temperatures when a single flu could kill him? If anything, she should have forced him to go back down the elevator and join his father… his… father…

She couldn't start thinking about him again- not when she was this sentimental and pissed at the same time.

She looked down at Jason, forcing on a smile as her breath came out visibly from her lips. Sure, she was cold as Hell, and she would make Clark pay for it if he would just _**get**_ there, but her son mattered first and foremost. Lois didn't know if she could handle yet another doctor's visit with him so close to death again- she had been careful for four years, and she shouldn't stop now, just because he was showing the capabilities of his _true_ father. "Honey, why don't you go see daddy?" Offering that smile she gave him whenever it was an order she had said as nicely as she could, the woman kneeled down and set her knee into the snow- and the freeze that seemed to follow seemed to cause her digression with the Man of Steel to grow more and more as time did pass. "He should have a warm office, better than being in the ice box out here with me, right? I bet you're cold, huh?"

He shook his head firmly, looking out into the horizon as he did ever since Superman- no, Clark (she _**had**_ to get used to the thought of him being Clark) - returned back home to Earth. In the past, he would be shaking uncontrollably, even when he would refuse to go inside and join the man that had been his father, but that seemed to have been a completely different universe compared to now. It seemed, after her son had come to 'outgrow' his inhaler, his immune system had returned to him with vengeance, and there seemed to be no sickness that would bother him. Odd as it was, she didn't want to test it by letting him stay. Still…

It was nice having company out here. She remembered when it had been her alone standing on top of that building, waiting for _her_ Superman (as she had secretly called him) to appear from the sky and swoop her off her feet and into the air. It felt like decades ago, yet… it still felt nice to have a conversation with someone other than herself. Now, at least, she could call herself crazy, and her son would merely laugh it off and disagree with her wholeheartedly, saying that she was the best mommy in the world. It was those times now, instead of those with her former beau, that caused her to hold on for dear life to the world that she had thought to have left behind- her life filled of Superman.

Though, as she watched her son, something seemed to cause his eyes to catch a light she hadn't seen too often- the light that only occurred whenever…

"It's Superman, mommy!"

When Lois Lane, top reporter at the Daily Planet, who won a Pulitzer for an article that she regretted now, turned, she felt her face flush as it used to whenever he had come around. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she still had feelings for the Man of Steel- for… Clark…

The only difference was that she was ready to knock some sense into him this time with something other than her lips.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Orokid**_: I don't really have much else to say, other than this- please review! It's been a while since I've had reviews, and I'm running low on thought process. Strangely, those are what cause me to write, so I would really enjoy the help. Thanks._


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